Set data type in Text Input tool

[Hollingsworth]

Idea: Allow the user to set the data type including character field width in the Text Input tool.

The Text Input tool currently auto-senses the correct type and width of the field in a Text Input tool. However, this sometimes restricts the usage of the data downline.

Examples:

1 - I often run into the situation where I've copied some data from a browse tool and then pasted that as an input to a new workflow. Then I'll turn that workflow into a macro. But then I run into an issue where the data that comes into the macro is larger than the original width in the Text Input tool. This causes problems.

2 - The tool senses that a field containing zip codes should be numeric and then converts the data. This corrupts the data and makes me insert a Select/Formula tool combo to pad the zeros to the left.

[Hollingsworth]

Thanks for the feekback Ben!

[adrianho]

This is a major issue for me. For me it is more of a general problem with any input, esspecially macro input.

With any input took, I need to be able to define the datatype of each column in the input.

The tools i need this for is:

Macro input

Text input

I also think I have had trouble with the tools below because of this issue

input data

Dynamic input

[StephenR]

Another problem is that I can't put a spatial object into a text input tool (I know SO isn't Text).  I really like to be able to do that when converting text input to macro input and not having to create a new .yxdb every time I adjust the macro input.  These are slightly different problems, but I think they're probably related

[SeanAdams]

Absolutely agree with this - need strong typing on all input tools (text input; CSV input; etc)

[saqib]

Any updates on this?

[tonyppham503]

This would be very useful for manual profiling raw files for us :) 

[ajsmith]

This is also an issue for me, particularly where integers are cast to bytes. Is there any update on when we can expect this to be addressed?

[SagnikB]

Is there a work around for this right now? 
How can we achieve this using a different tool right now in Alteryx?

[KSassone]

Is there any update on this issue?  I currently need to be able to change a data type for my text input tool to work.  Any direction, very much appreciated !